Governments
and policymakers have got this; it isn’t our place to help. When we assume
someone else is handling it, we effectively forget which closed doors we’d
still be standing outside without the golden key of our education.

Literacy
opens those doors – to health education, financial security, social mobility,
the legal system and even God’s word.

It’s
why education forms one of BMS’ seven pillars of
ministry, from making mission work a viable choice for parents
serving overseas with their children, to setting up preschools in contexts as
varied as Africa and Asia, where pathways into schooling for disadvantaged
children don’t exist. And we know it works.

We
know that when it comes to education, you’re never just teaching the kids.

We’ve
seen parents in Mozambique and Bangladesh linger outside the classroom, looking
in on a future for their children that they never had for themselves.

Parents in Uganda are getting passionate about safeguarding and preventing child abuse.

Schools
once reserved for mission kids are reaching out to support the local community
– and whole districts are being given hope.

We’re
excited that knowledge is not a finite commodity. It has a curious way of
replicating and spreading – hopping across countries and continents.

BMS’
PEPE preschool education project has been developed across Brazil, Mozambique,
Angola and huge swathes of South America, reaching hundreds of thousands of
disadvantaged children with its chameleon-like ability to reframe itself for
each country and context.

And
what about changing an entire nation – even a government?

In
Nepal, BMS partner KISC Equip collaborated with the Ministry of Education to
introduce creative teaching reforms – ideas the government enthusiastically
applied to the national curriculum.

BMS
is not afraid to step alongside governments as we seek to transform lives; it’s
one sure-fire way to reach as many people as possible. To change our world.

While
the world’s lungs are burning and fascism is on the rise, your first thought to
do something about it may not be “more preschools.” But change comes through
education. Even in these small ways.

Literacy
undoes more injustices than we might imagine. There’s a direct correlation
between illiteracy and prejudice against women, people with disabilities and
people in poverty. Education addresses some of these injustices.

The
pen is mightier than the sword sometimes, and when looking for a cause to back,
we might do well to remember this powerful weapon against inequality at our
disposal.

It’s
easier said than done. Typing this sentence, I’m no longer wowed by the idea
that I can tap abstract symbols on a keyboard to convey my meaning. You’re no
longer wowed that you can read, digest and understand it.

So,
be wowed. Let’s get out of our own way and get back behind literacy as a cause
to fight for.

Let’s
remember that Jesus is Teacher as well as the Great Physician and Prince of
Peace. Start seeing literacy as the gift it is, one to be passed on and shared
– and give thanks to policymakers, to educators, to God.

Pearce
with BMS World Mission puts it this way: “There’s a need out there. Why keep
education to ourselves?”